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Leafs’ father-son road trip always interesting affair: Feschuk

A good time is always had by all during annual get-together. Some have more fun than others.

The Leafs took their dad's on the road to Pittsburgh, an annual tradition. Players were given the option of bunking with their dads or booking two separate rooms. Defenceman Morgan Rielly chose the later option, citing his father's allegedly loud snoring. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

As the Maple Leafs prepared to set out for their annual father-and-son road trip, each player was given a choice. He could share accommodations at the team hotel with his dad, or he could secure two separate rooms.

Philosophies on the topic varied. Morgan Rielly, though he said he enjoyed bunking with his father, Andy, during last year’s trip through Florida, put his name in for two rooms this year.

“He’s a snorer,” the junior Rielly said of the senior.

And while forward James van Riemsdyk acknowledged that his father, Frans, has also been known to saw logs, the two will be staying together.

“I think we snore at about the same volume,” said James, “so we cancel each other out.”

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Perhaps the most common reason cited for separate digs was both sleep-related and mildly surprising. Centreman Nazem Kadri said he shares a close relationship with his father, Sam. But the plan, Nazem said, was to wish his dad good night after dinner on Tuesday and see him again at breakfast on Wednesday.

“I mean, just in case (the dads are) going to go out and have some fun, I don’t really want him coming into the room at two or three in the morning,” Kadri said. “We’ve got a game to play.”

Wait, what? A fun-loving band of millionaire jocks was heading out on the road, and it was the millionaire jocks who were bracing for their dear old dads to blow curfew? This appeared to be an actual concern in Leafland on Tuesday.

The fathers, as it turned out, haven’t been slapped with a specific lights-out guideline, perhaps because there are insiders who strongly suggest it wouldn’t do any good. On Tuesday, more than one Leaf told tales of previous father-son voyages highlighted by various unnamed fathers wobbling through luxury hotel lobbies into the wee hours. Since the Leafs were scheduled to stay in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night before arising Wednesday to prepare for Sidney Crosby and the NHL’s highest-scoring team, there was a hope the dads wouldn’t serve as enablers of bad behaviour for their boys.

“There’ve been a few (dads) that have stayed out pretty late and enjoyed themselves (in the past),” said Peter Horachek, the Toronto assistant coach whose previous posting in Nashville also made father-son trips an annual affair. “But I’m sure the players are going to be doing the regular routine — or, hopefully.”

Head coach Randy Carlyle’s regular routine of setting a lineup will see considerable change on Wednesday, when a couple of long-lost NHLers are expected to return to Toronto fold. Veteran forward David Booth is slated to make his debut as a Maple Leaf after suffering a broken foot in the pre-season. Oft-injured winger Joffrey Lupul, who has missed a dozen games with a broken bone in his right hand, is also anticipated to be in the lineup. Lupul’s impending return bumped Kadri off the second power-play unit during practice on Tuesday.

Kadri, though his talent clearly warrants inclusion in the special-teams rotation, hasn’t managed to produce a single power-play point this season, a year after he put up 18 points with the man advantage. For Carlyle, even in the happy throes of a two-game win streak, patience has its limits.

So does the depth of Toronto’s defensive corps — a characteristic that will be tested in new ways beginning Wednesday. Roman Polak, the veteran rearguard who trailed only captain Dion Phaneuf in ice time among Toronto defencemen this season, is expected to be out four to six weeks with a sprained knee suffered in Saturday’s win over Detroit. Korbinian Holzer, called up from the Marlies, will fill in for now.

Toronto’s family-focused festivities began, for some, on Monday night, when various players picked up their fathers at the airport. Cal Franson, Cody’s father, said the reunion in Pearson’s arrivals hall was sweet.

“He hugged me so hard he almost knocked me over,” said Cal of Cody, who will be sharing a room with his son in Pittsburgh.

Tuesday morning commenced with a catered breakfast at the team’s Etobicoke practice rink, after which the dads watched the workout from the bleachers. It wasn’t long before the group caught a charter flight to Pittsburgh, where the team was to hold a dinner for the travelling party.

“(Each dad will) get a chance to say something about their kid, and embarrass their kid, since (their kid) embarrassed them for most of their lives,” said Horachek.

Jokes aside, Horachek said the communal table can be an emotional trigger.

“Once you make it, you get to the NHL, you’ve done something you’ve always wanted to do, it’s pretty special,” Horachek said. “You’ll even see some of them have a tear in their eye.”

Eric Clarkson, David’s dad, said he was grateful the Maple Leafs extend such a courtesy to a players’ kin. The NHL allows teams to take one such family trip every year. And even if there were at least a few grumbles among the Toronto group about this year’s not-so-tropical destination and a mid-week date that left some working dads hard-pressed to attend, it’s well known that some franchises don’t go in for in-season family bonding. Eric Clarkson said that Lou Lamoriello, the man in charge in New Jersey, never invited fathers on a trip during David’s six-plus seasons on the squad.

“Hard to argue with Lou — they’ve won three Stanley Cups,” said Eric Clarkson. “I think he probably thinks it’s a bit of a distraction for the players. So if we go into Pittsburgh and win this, it’ll be good.”

Carlyle has said in the past that this trip is about at least a couple of things. He figures it can serve as both a bit of motivation — “They want to play well in front of their fathers” — and a mode of explanation.

“(The dads) can see the babysitting I have to do,” Carlyle has said.

If it’s the fathers who have a tendency to misbehave, mind you, it’s worth asking: Why not a mom’s trip? Last weekend, the Canadiens held their first-ever mother-and-son tour, this on a two-game swing through Boston and New York. Last season, the Penguins brought along their moms on a warm-weather-bound jet. Various other franchises, among them Vancouver and Minnesota and Chicago, have done likewise.

Don’t think Toronto’s maternal figures haven’t noticed.

“My mom, she’s trying hard to get one. (Some of the Leafs moms) are talking amongst themselves,” said Rielly with a laugh. “It’s kind of funny in that way. There’s lots of jealousy.”

Said Kadri: “I’d like to see a mom’s trip happen. I know my mom is kind of itching to come on one. She’s always on me to run it past someone in the organization. So hopefully we can make that happen soon.”

For now, for the sake of Wednesday’s game in Pittsburgh, Leaf players who’ve chosen to share accommodations with their elders can only hope the representatives of the previous generation acquit themselves with some restraint.

Van Riemsdyk may or may not have been crossing his fingers when he said of his Tuesday-night roommate: “He’s pretty tame. It should be okay.”

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